Northeast Arkansas Regional Science Fair to be held March 16 in Centennial Hall

March 05, 2012
The Northeast Arkansas Regional Science Fair (NEARSF) will be held Friday, March 16, beginning at 8 a.m. in Arkansas State University's Centennial Hall, on the third floor of the Carl R. Reng Student Union, 101 N. Caraway Road, Jonesboro.

The Northeast Arkansas Regional Science Fair (NEARSF) will be held Friday, March 16, beginning at 8 a.m. in Arkansas State University’s Centennial Hall, on the third floor of the Carl R. Reng Student Union, 101 N. Caraway Road, Jonesboro.

Individual students and teams (Grades 6-12) will receive recognition for outstanding science fair projects in various categories of science, math, and engineering. The two top winners of the entire science fair and their sponsoring teachers will be eligible to compete at this year’s Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2012 (Intel ISEF) to be held in Pittsburgh, Penn., Sunday-Friday, May 13-18.

This year’s fair is the 56th annual Northeast Arkansas Regional Science Fair; the first Northeast Arkansas Regional Science Fair was held in 1956. The International Science and Engineering Fair dates back in one form to 1950, but it did not become a truly international event until 1958, making the northeast Arkansas fair two years older than the international fair.

Travel, housing, and registration expenses for the top two projects to attend Intel ISEF will be paid for by NEARSF, which is supported by Arkansas State University’s College of Sciences and Mathematics and by private monetary donations provided by businesses, charitable organizations, and members of the northeast Arkansas community

Winners can be two individual student projects or one individual project and one team (consisting of two students) and their sponsoring teachers, who will attend Intel ISEF.

Students will set up their science fair projects on Friday, March 16, from 8-11 a.m. The check-in table for student projects will be outside Centennial Hall. Information on various academic programs at Arkansas State will also be available in Centennial Hall. ASU representatives from various departments and programs will be available Friday morning and/or afternoon to provide information about the university to students, parents, and others

Science fair exhibits will be closed to the public Friday afternoon from 12-5:30 p.m. while judging takes place. Fair exhibits will be open to the public and the students from 5:30-7 p.m. on Friday evening. An awards ceremony will take place at 7 p.m. in the Student Union Auditorium, with Dr. John Pratte, associate dean of the College of Sciences and Mathematics, officiating. Other presenters will also participate in the awards ceremony.

For additional information, contact Dr. Tillman Kennon (jkennon@astate.edu) , director of the Northeast Arkansas Regional Science Fair, at (870) 972-3256.